Scalar curvature and the relative capacity of geodesic balls

Abstract

In a Riemannian manifold, it is well known that the scalar curvature at a point can be recovered from the volumes (areas) of small geodesic balls (spheres). We show the scalar curvature is likewise determined by the relative capacities of concentric small geodesic balls. This result has motivation from general relativity (as a complement to a previous study by the author of the capacity of large balls in an asymptotically flat manifold) and from weak definitions of nonnegative scalar curvature. It also motivates a conjecture (inspired by the famous volume conjecture of Gray and Vanhecke), regarding whether Euclidean-like behavior of the relative capacity on the small scale is sufficient to characterize a space as flat.